joewarkfanclub

I have a soft spot for the Falkirk game in '91. Really decent crowd, end to end football and some great goals. Coop was majestic that day and even managed to tease a goal out of Joe McLeod! Big Cusack was immense as well. As mentioned the Semi Final replay against Celtic was unbelievable. Wee Dougie tore them apart and Psychos goal was just the icing on the cake. Conversely I never enjoyed the Final. Stomach was in knots all day. Couldnt relax until it was all over. The Katowice game at home was pretty special. Fir Park was rocking under the floodlights for our first ever home game in Europe. Great battling display with some great football between Russell and Cooper. Just a shame the away goal killed it and it was too little too late at the end.

I think the 4-3-3 McGhee tried on Saturday has merits. Just not with the personnel he went with. Ripley Kennedy Laing McManus Chalmers Grimshaw Lasley Pearson Ainsworth Fletcher Moult Could work. Moults not a natural on the left side but his work ethic is invaluable to the team. Not sure if Fletcher could play left side but I wouldnt be playing Johnson again until he has his head sorted. Especially in a game where you need everyone to put in a shift.

We're getting old!

Ally Maxwell '91 Cup Final. How he never won man of the match in that game after being clattered by big John Clark I will never know. Spent a week in hospital with a ruptured spleen after it. Remarkable performance.

Might have voted for Moult again if our manager hadnt taken him off ridiculously early leaving Marvin Johnsons doppelganger on the park. Had to be Kennedy after that. No one else really merited it.

Should be Craigan with a view to a seamless transition when McGhee leaves.....

This.

If he starts winning games an gets us playing attacking entertaining football all will be forgiven. If he doesnt he will get about 5mins in the job and could be out the door by the summer. Folk wanted experience. He has managed at a higher level for longer than any of the other candidates. Cant say Im doing cartwheels but Im happy to give him a second chance.

Especially now Klopp has taken the Liverpool job.

I wondered why the pitch looked so much better this year. That explains it. A McGhee team would have a field day on that surface!

So sad to hear this news tonight. Joe was the captain and driving force for the first Motherwell team I ever watched. He and Wullie P were my boyhood heroes. A consumate professional. Never dived, rarely booked. You'd struggle to find anyone in Scottish football that had a bad word to say about him. He is the best left back to wear the claret and amber in my lifetime ant the best player I ever saw that was never capped for Scotland. Feels like Ive lost a little bit of my childhood tonight. RIP Joe. You were one of the best.

Who?

Point well made by the Bois today. Love them or loath them you cannot argue that the atmosphere today was much better in the second half than first. Heres hoping they can find a way to communicate positively with the powers that be in order to maintain the positive aspects that they bring to the matchday experience.....

Question is would Mixu choose us or United? Ex Utd player and Tannadice is nearer his house than Fir Park but which squad does he view as having greater potential? Thats if either board are remotely interested in him.....

Thought it was very close between Ainsworth and Kennedy but went for Ainsworth as he was the matchwinner for me. His mazy in the second half would have been goal of the season but for a great save from their keeper. Was really impressed with Pearson for his first game back. Gives us so much more energy in midfield.

Nobody has mentioned how spectacularly bad Steven McLean was today. I think their no3 couldve taken a baseball bat off Moults napper and not had a foul given against him. Time and time again he came through Moult with elbows and arms flailing. Not to mention his elbow on Ripley in 2nd half. No wonder the big man was raging. Ridiculously poor refereeing. As for the game. Much improved attitude and application. The football wasnt the prettiest at times but we deserved the 3 points against a Thistle team that played much better football than I had expected. Onwards and upwards!

I know a lot of Killie fans who really liked Shiels. Was great with young players and really bought into the community club ethos. They also played attractive passing football and won a cup under him. He might have a lot to say for himself but I dont think he would be the worst choice. That said, I think my Killie supporting chums would be much more annoyed if we got Mixu.......

Exactly this.

Apologies. I thought you were fishing for a negative response as per the post earlier suggesting we dont respond positively to any managerial suggestions. He doesnt float my boat but Ive no idea whether Danny Lennon would be any good.

[quote name=Shire Greats" post="453692" t What are craigan managerial and coaching credentials...we've just had to punt a manager,let's have a good think about where we go from here .best of luck ,Iain ,don't like to see this happen,but ultimately it was coming.Good few players need to have a look atvthemselves imestamp="1443021656] Well aware he has no current credentials which is why I qualified it by "short term". Unfortunately there arent many managers with proven managerial credentials that would want to come to us. Therefore any appointment comes with a degree of risk. I said on the other thread we should let Craggs take the reigns while we scout options. If he makes a good start and nobody more impressive comes along, maybe we stop looking......

Ok, I will bite first! Nooooooooo!

Id certainly be happy to give Craggs a shot while we scout options. If he turns things around dramatically it could be his to lose. He and Robinson are close so they should have a good understanding of each other.....

Hopefully Craigan and Robinson get the reigns in the short term at least......

Strange team selection. Drops arguably our hardest working most consistent player in Moult. Drops the experienced Lasley for Leitch but keeps Taylor. The rest you maybe couldnt argue with other than whether we needed to set up 4-5-1 against lower league opposition. Static pedestrian football with the majority of players not showing for the ball resulting in schoolboy errors, poor passing and eventually the long ball. Robinson never won a single header all night. Seemed unable to get his body between the centre half and the ball to hold it up. Touch was terrible and appeared to have no appetite to run channels or do anything that appeared constructive (see Moult decision). Johnson. No longer backs himself to go past a player even when he has half the field in front of him. Continually turned back inside and slowed the ball down even when Chalmers overlapped him and could have taken a pass. Taylor. Anonymous again. (See Lasley decision) Dom Thomas. Tried hard but decision making is terrible. Needs to learn when to offload the ball. Too often tried to beat Morton single handed. Leitch worked hard but distribution is poor. Not helped by lack of movement in front of him but got worse as game wore on. Needs more time to develop. Grimshaw at least went looking for the ball and tried to get into game. Limited options in front of him but managed to give it away less than Leitch. Chalmers. Poor game. Not helped by Johnson in front of him. McManus. No fight or leadership from our most experienced player. Far too slow playing the ball out of defence. Kennedy. Best of a bad bunch for me. He's a raw big laddie and his distribution isnt always the best but gave it everything and put in 3 great tackles in 2nd half to snuff out attacks. Unfortunately none of the other players followed his lead. Law. Horribly exposed at times. His game was summed up by his yellow card for shirt pulling. Ripley. Did ok. At least had good grace to look embarrassed and apologetic at the end. Ainsworth,McDonald, Moult. All improved things when they came on. Begs the question why didnt they all start? Overall an awful insipid performance.

Ive tried to stay out of this thread so far. It was started ridiculously early and many of the comments have been bad reactions to poor results,which I accept is partly the purpose of a football forum. However, I think even the most positive and patient of fans are now in agreement that the managers time is up. If you examine his time at the club there is plenty evidence for it. 1. No consistency in team selection or formation. 2. Consistently playing players out of position. 3. Signing policy does not match the vision presented by the manager and the club. We are supposed to be running with a smaller squad with greater quality that allows us to make money in transfer market. None of which has happened. 4. Signing policy has not strengthened areas of weakness in squad he himself has identified. 5. No sign of the pressing passing game he sold to land the job. Static players, no movement off the ball resulting in lost possession or all too often route 1 hoofball to players ill equipped to deal with it. 6. Unable to motivate squad. No sign of any fight within the squad. Not one of them lost it last night and started shouting at team mates. Looks like a general acceptance within squad that the games up. 7. Inability to identify which players are having the poorest game and make a change that would improve things and protect the player. There's probably more I could list if I took time to think about it but these are the obvious ones. This isnt a "kneejerk" reaction to one result. Its the observations of a managers tenure over the course of nearly a year. A manager who has been given more money to spend than any manager in recent memory. Sorry Ian. Your a nice guy, but times up.